Fernando Torres finally lived up to his billing as one of the world’s great strikers Sunday by scoring to give Spain a 1-0 win over Germany and the European Championship title.
Torres, who had been overshadowed by teammate David Villa all tournament, scored in the 33rd minute of the final to down the three-time European champions and earn his nation’s first major title in 44 years.
Touching a sliding pass from Xavi Hernandez past Philipp Lahm, Torres turned and ran past his marker on the opposite side, collected the ball and lifted a shot over sliding goalkeeper Jens Lehmann and into the far corner.
Spain had more chances but the goal was enough to give the country its first title since the 1964 European Championship.
In the end, Spain was a deserved winner of the 13th European Championship. Long known as an underachiever that peaked between tournaments rather than at them, the team reached the final at Ernst Happel Stadium with a string of beguiling attacking displays orchestrated by a vibrant midfield – and held true to its values in the highest pressure match.
Xavi, Andres Iniesta and David Silva swapped positions constantly against a midfield marshaled by Michael Ballack and eventually wore out their opponents until it seemed Spain was simply counting down time until the final whistle.
Red-shirted fans started to greet each successful pass with cheers of “Ole!” before erupting into relieved delirium on the whistle.
The overjoyed players gathered to throw 69-year-old coach Luis Aragones into the air in celebration, while the massed ranks of Spanish fans sang themselves hoarse with “Viva Espana” as fireworks went off overhead.
Germany, playing in its seventh European Championship final, had a strong appeal for a first-half penalty turned down but, despite Ballack’s imperious performance, could not find a way past the Spain defense.
Ballack’s tender right calf had meant that, until right before kickoff, it looked like he was about to add a missed European Championship final to the World Cup final he sat out in 2002.
But he took his place in the lineup and, against a team with even slightly less skill and passion, could have been the driving force in another German win.
Germany dominated the opening exchanges until a lucky break in the 14th gave the Spanish their first chance on goal and a boost that clearly lifted their play.
On a rare foray forward, Iniesta sent a cross into the box from the left and Germany defender Christoph Metzelder stuck out a boot to send the ball rocketing toward his own goal. Only a diving reaction save by Jens Lehmann kept it out and prevented an own-goal.

Several footballers born in France to Maghrebi parents have gone on to play for France and contribute to Les Bleus’ triumphs, one example being the recently retired Zinedine Zidane, whose parents are Algerian. Zidane is one of France’s best-ever players and was the hero of the 1998 FIFA World Cup™ final, scoring two goals in his country’s 3-0 victory over Brazil. The current France team contains the youngsters Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri, both of whose parents are Algerian, and Hatem Ben Arfa, the son of a former Tunisian international. All three were team-mates when France won the European Under-17 Championship in 2004.
22-year-old Younes Kaboul of Moroccan origin, who plays for English club Tottenham Hotspur and won the European Under-19 Championship with France in 2005, is also highly promising. “Algeria is where my parents come from and it is close to my heart, but I play for France”, says Benzema, one of the symbols of the “Zidane generation” of integrated players.

In football, as in life, success is a mixture of several ingredients. Commitment, experience, training and, of course, talent tinged with a spot of luck dictate whether the outcome is victory or defeat, trophies or relegation, jubilation or despair.
It is a moot point as to which ingredient is more vital than the others. Some see only talent as the decisive factor while others cite an endless list of perennial but disgraced geniuses and sing the praises of those stars who have made it to the top by sheer dint of hard work.
The truth of the matter lies, as with many other things, somewhere in the middle. Those not blessed with basic talent soon come face to face with their limitations, with truly exceptional exploits constantly eluding them. But even the most talented will inevitably fail if they rely purely on theit abilities.
The only footballers attributed with having been born with their gift are the Brazilians. And of all the associations, it is Brazil’s CBF that preaches that raw talent is not enough. Practice makes perfect is the mantra constantly humming around the Sugar Loaf Mountain, as graphically illustrated by an article in this edition of FM. And as shown in yet another article, the treasure trove of talent gushing from the Maghrebi countries is simply the result of hard graft.
But good and productive work can only be carried out effectively if the circumstances are right. With this in mind, FIFA has been striving for over thirty years to strengthen its member associations and their football environment through clearly structured programmes. In the early days, the focus used to be on courses and seminars but nowadays, thanks to FIFA’s robust financial situation, there is a wide range of initiatives on offer to support and develop the associations.
These have been parcelled together within the scope of such initiatives as Win in Africa with Africa. In addition to certain projects such as laying at least one artificial turf pitch in various countries in Africa, FIFA has devised long-term plans to strengthen football throughout the continent as a whole in an effort to stem the tide of migration from Africa to Europe. These Talent and toi include professionalising the otganisational structutes not only of the associations but also of the leagues with regard to arranging matches and transfers and dispensing disciplinary measures.
Our sport thrives on the gamut of emotions and magic moments that only true genius can generate and such thrills are only rendered possible if we pursue systematic goals. In other words, what we are doing for the same, we are doing for the world.